Paranormal Fads go Mainstream, Penn Manor not Amused

“They are just trying to jump on the wagon and make the most ridiculous things ever,” said freshman Austin Stetler.

The new trend on some cable channels is to load up on paranormal investigative programming.

For the History Channel, it’s Monster Quest, the Travel Channel has Ghost Adventures and Syfy brings to the table Ghost Hunters. It seems that every time you change the channel, a new paranormal series is coming out and most students seem to think that the first one is more out-there than the last.

Syfy Investigative Team. Image owned by Syfy.com

The first show to appear on the scene was Ghost Hunters, which aired October 6, 2004. When this show came out, it inspired waves of merchandising opportunities and some other networks decided to join in on the opportunity.

On October 31, 2007, the show Monsterquest launched its T.V. programming with the story of the American Loch Ness Monster. It had a three-year run in which it did rather well, but not everyone was on board with the new programs.

Travel Channel. Image owned by Travelchannel.com

“I think that some of the stuff is based on facts, but they do embellish some of the facts,” said junior Josh Morgan.

Morgan also said, “They may actually be hearing something moving around but, that could be any number of things from animals to even the wind, but they jump right to the fact that it is a ghost instead of looking further into it.”

Though not everyone is as doubtful as Morgan, the general consensus seems to be the same among Penn Manor students.

“I don’t think that all of the stories can be explained away,” said senior James McElroy, “but they actually might make things up in order to make the show interesting and not have people start tuning out.”

“I used to watch these shows all the time, now I think it just a bunch of made up hoaxes to get people to watch the shows,” Stetler said.

Whether it is real or fake most Penn Manor students do seem to be tuning out.